Is Boston cardinal with Berks ties candidate for pope?

The Archbishop of Boston, who graduated from a school in West Reading, will travel to Rome next month to vote but says he's 'counting on coming home.'

February 21, 2013|By Matthew Nojiri, Of The Reading Eagle

READING — — A Roman Catholic cardinal with ties to Berks County has been mentioned by some media outlets as a possible candidate for election as the next pope.

Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley, 68, the archbishop of Boston, graduated from Sacred Heart School in West Reading in 1958 and is among the 118 eligible cardinals who will travel to Rome next month to vote in the papal conclave.

On Tuesday, the National Catholic Reporter and several media outlets in the Italian press reported that O'Malley may be on the list of possible candidates for the papacy.

O'Malley was asked about his interest in the job during a news conference last week, according to the Boston Globe.

"I haven't lost any sleep about it, and I have bought a round-trip ticket, so I'm counting on coming home," he said.

Sacred Heart Principal Katherine Napolitano said Tuesday that students are excited about O'Malley's connection to the school. She said one student even approached her about the possibility that O'Malley might be elected as the next pope.

The school wrote a letter to O'Malley a few years ago and he responded, Napolitano said. He has also made donations to the school in the past.

"We're absolutely proud," Napolitano said. "He's been supportive of the school. He's been prayerfully supportive and financially supportive of the school."

Last week Pope Benedict XVI announced he will step down Feb. 28, making him the first to leave the papacy since Pope Gregory in 1415.

O'Malley attended Sacred Heart, a kindergarten through eighth-grade school, from 1956 to 1958 and then moved on to St. Fidelis Seminary in Butler County.

His father, Theodore J. O'Malley, was vice president of the former American Casualty Co. at the time, and the family lived on Wyomissing Boulevard in Wyomissing.

Pope John Paul II appointed him archbishop of Boston in July 2003. Pope Benedict XVI named him to the College of Cardinals in 2006.